Pattern Awareness

People typically encounter repetition in their lives. They know that the next day they will most likely be doing the same tasks that they are comfortable with. When people fall into a set routine, it can sometimes be difficult to break it. This is also the cause with bad habits. Bad posture is one such habit that needs to be corrected as soon as possible. People spend their time in the same position every day, which eventually leads to bad posture. How can you avoid this from happening? Read on to find out!

Utilize a Posture Brace

Sometimes posture can be difficult to correct on our own. We are so attuned to doing the same activities that cause bad posture, that we do not even realize we are doing them. Men in particular will suffer from bad posture if they are required to do more physical labour than women. If they are lifting heavy objects or straining themselves on a regular basis, their posture will worsen over time. A good example of a posture corrector for men is a posture brace.  Posture braces can help because they are automatically correcting the issue. A posture brace will provide extra support for the shoulders and spine, which increases various muscles. A posture brace can be easily worn under a piece of clothing. It is meant to be unobtrusive, so it will not interfere with your everyday activities. Your doctor may recommend that you wear it for a certain amount of time before analyzing the results.

Walk Around More

Being at work is such a routine pattern for most people. It is where we spend a great deal of time, and so many health patterns can form while being at work. Sitting for a prolonged period of time at work is detrimental to your spinal health. You can avoid this by being as active as possible during the day. Stand and stretch every half an hour at least. When you get up for coffee, walk around the building before going back to your seat. Change your desk for a standing one. A standing desk may be difficult to use all day, so perhaps you could have two desks that you go back and forth between.  Little changes like these can make a huge difference to your posture. You will start to notice less back pain and a straighter spine.

Conclusion

Humans have a tendency to continue bad patterns, we’re creatures of habit. Once they start, it is difficult to stop. The first step is acknowledging that there is an issue and you want to solve it. Bad posture can be the start of serious back pain in the future. Avoid this by making a few changes to your lifestyle. Wearing a posture brace and walking around more at work are good ways of improving your physical and spinal health. You will appreciate the changes once they have been implemented in your life, because you will experience less pain on a day-to-day basis.

You have one life to live, and most of us understand the importance of doing things now that will benefit the quality of our lives later. From eating right and exercising to going to the doctor for regular checkups and more, there’s a lot we can do to maintain the integrity of our bodies and age gracefully. However, there’s an aspect that makes a bigger difference than most give it credit for. According to the National Sleep Foundation, the average adult needs between seven and eight full hours of sleep each night in order for the body to:

• Repair muscles
• Grow new tissues
• Release growth hormones necessary to grow and develop
• Restore energy levels

There’s more to sleep than many people acknowledge, and it’s crucial that you get enough rest and relaxation in order to reduce your risk of the development of a number of health problems such as cardiovascular disease, obesity, and even premature mortality. There are a few things you can do to manage proper sleep patterns and enjoy a higher quality of life.

Sleeping Hot

This may sound simple but… turn down your thermostat. You sleep much better in a cooler room covered in blankets or duvets to keep you warm. If you get too hot you can always throw a leg out to help yourself cool down.

Another option is to invest in some cooling sleep technology. Cooling mattress pads actually help to control your body heat so that you aren’t too cold or too hot. This makes a considerable difference in how well we sleep.

Consider Lighting Changes

The body is designed to recognize patterns, and this certainly holds true when it comes to sleep. Most of us naturally become sleepy at night when the sun goes down. In order to ensure you’re ready to close your eyes for the day at the right time, consider making lighting changes in your home to be enjoyed during the hours before bedtime. The goal is to decrease the intensity of the lighting so you can adjust to a dimmer room and encourage the body to prepare for upcoming sleep.

When the temperatures are in the mid to upper 60’s, they’re right to help the body transition to bedtime. Consider installing LED lights on your car and using them to offer slight illumination while you wind down reading or relaxing on the porch. These lights can even help you create a sleek look on your vehicle while getting you physically prepared for restful sleep.

Lose the Electronics

As our society becomes increasingly reliant on electronic devices, our collective sleep quality suffers. When you engage in conversations on social media, watch videos, or just read news articles on illuminated screens, your brain remains active, and you don’t allow it the proper transition to more easily fall asleep when it’s time to do so.

While it may be met with resistance, encourage your household to put a ban on the use of electronics two hours before bedtime, and this isn’t limited to mobile devices. You should even turn off the television. You’ll be surprised to find with what ease you can fall asleep when you’ve allowed your body the natural transition it needs to fall asleep.

Weigh the Pros and Cons of a Late Night

We’ve all had late nights. From staying up all night to study for an exam to rushing to finish the final details of a big work project and more, it can be difficult to fall asleep knowing what lies ahead the next morning. While it may seem to be responsible to stay up late to complete your obligations, first consider the consequences. When you fail to get the sleep you need, your energy levels won’t be optimal the next day. Therefore, even if you do stay up for three extra hours the night before, you’ll suffer for eight the next day, decreasing your overall productivity.

Stress can be a significant hindrance to the enjoyment of proper sleep, and it can be difficult to shut off our thoughts when we have something important coming up. In order to combat that, you have to allow yourself to put it in the back of your mind temporarily while you let your body perform the rejuvenation you need to competently tackle any problem you may face. When you have an important event coming up, prepare the night before by:

• Ceasing any work on the project at hand no less than two hours before bedtime
• Reading a book before bed
• Not eating anything within two hours of going to bed
• Turning off all lights in your bedroom to allow your body restful sleep

Making Every Minute Count

When you sleep, you allow your body to go through a number of sleep stages and accomplish many important functions to help keep your body healthy and maintained. However, in such a busy world, it can be easy to neglect the proper amount of sleep we really need. By following these tips, you can let old habits die while you work on developing good ones that will help you more easily manage your sleep and make every minute count.

There’s no doubt that in today’s high-pressure, hurried society, you need management techniques to cope with everyday stressors as well as those special occasions when the boss really gets under your skin. While a lot of people turn to meditation or stress toys to help them cope, the therapeutic benefits of a little time at the target range are too often overlooked.

Take Control

Target shooting can be a release in itself. At times, simply feeling the power of recoil from the pistol in your hands, or the rifle against your shoulder can be a uniquely grounding experience. Likewise, to experience that moment of total control when you send bullet to target can be cathartic. Yes, simply the act of shooting can seem to set the world right again when stress has you feeling like you’re at the mercy of the tides.

If you take target practice a bit more seriously, you will find that many of the techniques that you use to master your shot also quiet your mind and body when life’s challenges start to pour on the pressure. While improving your aim with gear is an option, you won’t get very far if you don’t control your mind and body first.

Be Present

Okay, it sounds a little new-agey put that way, but every shooter knows that when he’s thinking of other things, those distractions show on the target. Sloppy groups and all out random flyers aren’t always the fault of your ammunition. If you’re going to shoot well, your mind needs to be there at the range and you have to let the rest of it go. Other people meditate on a flower or repeat a mantra, we push it all out and concentrate on the target. In the end, when you clear your mind and focus on the shot, you’re practicing a type of focused mindfulness that clears away all the extra-curricular garbage from the outside world and can help manage your stress levels once you leave the range.

Control Your Breathing

You can’t shoot a reliable group if the rise and fall of each breath rocks your body unpredictably. Controlled breathing has long been taught as a component of marksmanship. While there are different schools of thought as to when to fire during a breath, as well as opinions about holding breath, breathing patterns and cautionary tales of shooters passing out on the competition range, everyone agrees that you can’t shoot if you’re pulling the trigger at random points in an erratic breathing cycle. Calm controlled breathing is a necessary component of accurate shooting.

When you master your breath, you’re taking control of how your body functions despite outside influences. That’s a big factor in how you handle stress. You can slow down and take control, or you can react. Take that deep cleansing breath before shooting the next round. Calm your breathing and use the stillness of your natural respiratory pause to steady both your shot and your nerves. You’ll walk off the range with a tighter group and leave anxiety behind too.

Picture the Perfect Shot

While other people “go to a happy place,” you picture covering your next group with a dime. It’s a simple technique that clears the mental boogeymen and sets us up for success.

Visualizing positive outcomes is something athletes did long before life coaching became “a thing.” A basketball player pictures the ball swooshing through the hoop. A baseball player sees a ball soaring over the fence. As a shooter, you feel the trigger against your finger, the stock tight against your shoulder,and you picture your next shot leaving the bore, traveling a true line to the target.

Next time you find yourself with clenched fists and sore jaw muscles from biting back those things you’d like to tell the boss, grab your range bag and go. Come home with a bag of empties, a filled target and a better attitude.